A Certain Miracle
by CrossFaded
Summary: Getting involved in an experiment that Saten Ruiko was not unaware of had granted her a miracle. It was a dream come true but if a price must be paid for a miracle, is this still a miracle? Or is it simply misfortune.
1. Chapter 1: Inception

Chapter 1: Inception

能力のインセプション

* * *

Saten Ruiko, a girl with blue eyes and long black hair was lying on her bed.

Her room was quiet and dark but she was still unable to fall asleep. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she recalled today's incident. Bullied once again by 2 girls; one had brown, short hair while the other had auburn hair tied into curly pigtails. Known as Tokowade Middle School's aces, they were Mikato and Shirako respectively; who specifically targeted girls who were Level 0s like her. Today's special was an attempt to get her head flushed down the toliet bowl. When that did not work out, they decided that she was better off being their personal punching bag.

In Academy City, there is 2.3 million inhabitants, 80% of which are students who is studying on ways to become an ESPer; a human who possesses supernatural ability under the Power Curriculum Program. There were six levels of categorization for ESPer's abilities, from the powerless Level 0 to the strongest Level 5, which only 7 person had attained this level. This meant that bullying could get very creative depending on the bully's ability.

Mikato could manipulate electricity while Shirako was a teleporter. One of their favourite method of bullying Saten was to teleport small, blunt and thick metal rods that were electrically charged inside her uniform at selected intervals that would embarrass her for it made her jump and move about like a person who had an epilepsy attack. She had an epithet soon enough in school; the Startled Starlet. Her only friend in school, Uiharu Kazari, would always comfort her that at least she didn't get a insulting epithet like Hopping Hogface for instance.

However, being Saten Ruiko's friend also meant that one more person was added to Mikato and Shirako's list of targets. Even if she was not a Level 0. Uiharu Kazari was only a Level 1 with an ability that could maintain the temperature of a particular object but useless in terms of defending herself. Their method of bullying Uiharu seemed to be more direct; one time, she was in the toliet with only Mikato inside when a pail of water appeared out of nowhere and made her totally drenched from head to toe. As if on cue, Mikato quickly sent a small spark of electricity with a flick of her finger towards Uiharu. When Saten knew what had happened, she cursed herself for being so useless; a useless Level 0 that can only be protected like a small flower at the mercy of the cruel thunderstorm that threatens to uproot it from the ground.

"Useless me, can't even do something humanly possible such as falling asleep." Saten muttered with much irritation as she continued her attempts in trying to fall sleep.

"If only I had some sort of ability..."

Vivid images from using the Level Upper started to flood her mind as she closed her eyes.

In a park with her three friends from a cram school, Akemi, Mako and Muu, she was moving small leaves in her palms. It was her first ability. But her happiness didn't last long when everyone who used the Level Upper would go into a coma, including her.

From the day she entered Tokowade Middle School, being in a coma was the best thing that had happened to her thus far. In her coma, she had a dream. A dream where Mikato and Shirako were her friends together with Uiharu. Everyday, they would hang out near a ice cream store, sampling the latest ice cream flavours and chat about everyday life. But in her dream, Mikato was a girl named Misaka Mikoto and Shirako was another girl named Shirai Kuroko. Both of them were powerful ESPers in their own rights, Misaka, the strongest Electromaster in Academy City, the third ranked Level 5 and Kuroko, a Level 4 Teleporter. Saten often wished that the both of them would pop out of her dream into reality and teach Mikato and Shirako a good lesson but it wasn't working for she got builled over and over again once she got out of her coma and returned to school again.

When she was a little girl, she had decided to enter Academy City to become a ESPer. Not so easy, as she soon reailsed after a few months in Academy City. No matter how hard she tried worked on developing her own personal reality; the source of every ESPer's abilities, she was still a level 0. For the sake of protecting Uiharu and herself, she must become a Level 1. Only when she became a Level 1 then Mikato and Shirako would probably leave her alone. Uiharu had always said this to her when she asked for advice on developing her own personal realty, "Picture your idyllic world and believe that is real." Somehow, her idyllic world of becoming an ESPer only came alive in dreams.

"Is my dream of becoming an ESPer simply just another dream?" Saten thought sadly; she wanted so bad to become one but it just wasn't working out so well.

"Perhaps I'm just not cut out to be an ESPer."

However, a lesson with a teacher, Tsukuyomi Komoe, had taught her that one must beileve in themselves in order for abilities to manifest in oneself. But right now, all she could believe that she was a useless little girl that can only rely on other people to protect her; not that anybody else other than Uiharu and the 2 girls, Misaka and Kuroko from her dreams were protecting her.

Tired from all the thinking, Saten eventually fell asleep and she slowly slipped into a dream where Uiharu, Misaka and Kuroko were waiting for her at the usual meeting place near the ice cream store.

Not once did she realise that she was already in a dream.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the cold, dark night, a man was being chased down by a girl in an empty alley. He cursed his luck; the organisation behind her sister's experiment was not as stupid as he hoped they would be. Breaking out of that joke of a prison was easy enough; he thought that it reflected their stupidity well enough but it seemed as though he was the stupid one. Hiring ITEM to ensure that he gets recaptured if he were to escape was pretty clever of them after all.

Darting through the alley like a shadow, it was almost impossible to keep up with his speed but she was no pushover for she was still keeping up. He reached a dead end of the alley soon after and with his back on the wall, he observed intently the girl who was approaching him like a predator slowly closing in on its prey.

"As expected of you, Mugino Shizuri."

She was a girl with a soft, tea coloured hair and her target was a Level 4 ESPer, Tetsuya Iseki, a man with short, blue cropped hair wearing only his white boxers.

Mugino laughed coldly at him, "Do you really think that I would allow you to wreck this experiment that easily."

"Using my sister to mass produce level 4 ESPers, despicable."

She waved a finger at Tetsuya, "Merely a trial experiment, only one Level 0 will be used."

With a hand outstretched and her palms wide open, she fired a white beam towards Tetsuya.

A large explosion occured and smoke started to fill the area.

"This is the end of y-"

But after the smoke cleared, he was still standing, even though it was now a struggle to keep standing.

"It would take more than a single beam to defeat a Level 4.5." Tetsuya smirked; she was severely underestimating his ability.

"Level 4.5? Just a failure from a Level 5 shift experiment."

Being a Level 4.5, contrary to what you might think, is not a level between 4 and 5. It is actually a Level 4 being capable of what a Level 5 could do; a curse that limits one from using their ability at maximum capacity for death will be granted to anyone who does that. Mugino was almost pushing him to his limits, if he could not end this fight soon enough, he would die from overextending his ability.

Mugino screamed with both of her hands now outstretched towards Tetsuya with a white orb of energy appearing from each hand.

"HOW ABOUT 4!"

With that, she fired 2 white beam consecutively from each hand towards him.

Mugino started laughing manicially, "A lowly Level 4 like you certainly wouldn't survive this meltdown!"

But the smoke cleared once again and Tetsuya was still standing even though he could barely stand anymore.

"Apperently more than 4." He was still smirking, much to her chagrin.

Mugino was now trembling with anger, a Level 4 that could survive 5 of her beams being directed at him.

"You, just what kind of ability do you actually have."

"It wasn't recorded in the Bank? That's quite sad considering that you've failed to kill me."

His smirk quickly turned into a wide, cruel smile as he leapt towards Mugino with his right fist aimed towards her. Despite forming a defensive shield in time, Tetsuya simply shattered the shield into pieces with his fist and forcefully grabbed Mugino by her neck before throwing her out of the alley like a rag doll.

"If this is merely Level 4.5, then I will be sure to kill you at Level 5."

He started to hobble towards the facility where the experiment is being held at. Pain was like sharp spears simultaneously piercing through his body but for his sister, he would ignore any pain. He could not forgive the organisation for deceiving his sister with convoluted reasons to enter the experiment, especially when he was the reason.

"You will be a puppet no more, my dear sister."

* * *

_Synchronization level: 80%_

_Attempting to upgrade AIM Field of Saten Ruiko._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Attempt unsuccessful._

It was supposed to be a simple experiment to study the AIM field of a Level 0. Participating in experiments was all part of being in the Power Curriculum Program and she also got paid so it wasn't too bad. But, sometimes in life you don't really get what you ask for.

In an experimental facility hidden deep within a ladyrinth of mostly old, abandonded bulidings and alleys in District 19 of Academy City, Saten Ruiko was currently lying inside a pod asleep with her body hooked up to various machines through wires.

Connecting to her pod was a similar pod with a girl also asleep inside; it was an experiment to upgrade a Level 0's AIM field to a Level 4 through synchronization of AIM fields. However, there were other factors at play as well, such as the personal reality of the subject undergoing upgrading. With that in mind, the experiment was predicted to succeed at a rate of only 0.05%. However, if this experiment were to succeed, Academy City would theoretically be able to mass produce Level 4 ESPers with a push of a button.

"Interesting. Let's check the synchronization level again." A scientist remarked while working on the data collected in his computer.

If dreams are known to be reflections of one's subconscious, then dreams would be a reflection of one's personal reality. It was a crucial factor in determining the success of the experiment. The scientist wondered what sort of dream that Saten Ruiko had that caused the upgrade to fail. He knew a blonde, busty and starry-eyed ESPer that would be able to know; the 5th ranked Level 5, Shokuhou Misaki with her Mental Out ability. However, she was far from starry-eyed; a main feature of her eyes was a star design on it, literally making her a starry-eyed girl. A cunning and scheming girl, she would have no qualms in using her ability intelligently to get what she wants.

_Synchronization level: 95%_

_Attempting to upgrade AIM Field of Saten Ruiko._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Attempt successful._

_4% to Level 4_

_6% to Level 4_

_..._

Everyone in the facility went silent for a moment. This experiment only had a 0.05% rate of success but it somehow succeeded. Another scientist who was also working on data in his computer put both of his hands up and cheered loudly, "This must be God's miracle!"

Suddenly, the huge entrance door of the facility was blasted open from a violent impact. Apperently, this was caused by a single strike from Tetsuya's fist as he stood there, hunched with a fist outstretched.

"Was I too late?" Tetsuya said as he started scanning his surroundings.

Takitsubo Rikou and Kinuhata Saiai was nowhere to be seen. Only a few scientists were at their computers and there were various machines near two pod with his sister probably inside of one of them. There was also an exit at the far right corner from the pods.

"Guess not."

Wires started snapping one by one as he pulled all of the computers towards him from a distance and levitated all of them into the air with a rising hand gesture.

"Destruction is a beautiful thing, no?"

_68% to Level 4_

_75% to Level 4_

_..._

The scientists quickly fled towards the exit as he violently propelled computers after computers towards the machines, driving large holes into them. It was the perfect expression of his wrath for deceiving his sister. He laughed at how weak those scientists were; choosing to run instead of fighting. Still, the lack of Takitsubo Rikou and Kinuhata Saiai's presence was very disturbing; too easy to be true.

"Is that all what they've got? I'm not even getting serious yet."

_Operation aborted- Error 404_

The girl pushed open the translucent lid of the pod and got up slowly as she removed the wires attached to her. She had long, flowing jet-black hair tinted with a slight hint of blue; it was Tetsuya's sister, Tetsuko Iseki. Upon seeing her brother, she smiled brightly at him, "It's nice to see you again, onii-chan."

"Okay, I don't have the time to explain this but we have get out of here now." Tetsuya said.

Nodding her head in acknowledgment, she staggered towards the other pod and dragged Saten out of her pod after pushing open the transparent lid. Tetsuya sighed, her sister was always like this. Too concerned about other people; perhaps this strange girl was a willing subject in the pursuit of more power. Such scums should just go and jump off a building if they are not willing to work hard for their own power.

"If we're going, so is this girl. She was deceived in participating in this experiment!" Tetsuko said.

From the large entrance door of the facility, Mugino started clapping approvingly.

"Well, well, well. I'm impressed you made it this far. But it ends here now."

"I will not allow you to harm another person in your experiments ever again." Tetsuko said to Mugino as she carried Saten on her shoulder.

Mugino sighed, "This is not my experiment for god's sake. We were only hired as bodyguards." Why can't people understand that ITEM is an underground group, not some dodgy science organisation in the pursuit of SYSTEM; a level equal to god.

Tetsuya readied himself into a battle stance facing Mugino, "Go, I'll handle the Meltdowner bitch."

With that, Tetsuko disappeared into the darkness of the exit with Saten.

* * *

It was difficult for Tetsuko but she made it to the dark, empty alley still carrying Saten on her shoulders. The abrupt interruption of that experiment had temporarily limited the use of her ability. If not, she would have just levitated Saten throughout the journey.

"We just went for a toliet break and super much things has happened already." a girl with short, brown hair said as she now stood facing them from a comfortable distance about 4 meters apart. She was a member of Mugino's group, ITEM, Kinuhata Saiai.

Laying Saten down at the side of the alley, Tetsuko clenched her fists, ready to fight at any moment.

"Don't have to be that super defensive, I won't bite." Saiai smiled.

"You are only after me, isn't it so?"

"Ah, that is super correct."

"May somebody discover you soon enough." Tetsuko thought as she took a quick glance at Saten. A surge of energy started flowing through her body. It was a sign of regaining control over her ability but it was far cry from what she was fully capable of. Nevertheless, being capable of standing a chance against Kinuhata Saiai was good enough.

She hurled a cylindrical robot that happened to pass by from a distance towards Saiai but it was shattered to pieces just a few centimeters before her. Taking advantage of this delay, Tetsuko leapt past Saiai like a bullet.

"I won't super allow you to escape." Saiai said as she started to chase Tetsuko down the alley.


	2. Chapter 2: Parallel Worlds

Chapter 2: Parallel Worlds

パラレル世界

* * *

At a large field, she was now running away from the brown-haired girl, Mikato, after witnessing a murder scene in the toliet at school. Mikato had mercilessly stabbed her best friend, Uiharu Kazari with a vibrating iron blade. Saten had no idea why would Mikato stab Uiharu but she only knew that when Mikato spotted her witnessing the whole thing, there was only 1 person left that would be able to protect her from Mikato; that newly transferred male student.

Right ahead of Saten was Tokowade's male dormitory and where he lived. Despite having great stamina, her legs were aching badly from running. The sky was a bright blue and the sun was shining but it was strangely cold and windy. The fear inside her only served to increase the tension in her legs. Mikato was still relentlessly chasing Saten; if she managed to reach that guy, this would be the end of her. Fortunately for her, Saten slipped and fell hard onto the cold, hard grass.

Saten got up and decided not to run already; she will not allow herself to rely on others once more. As she stood there with tears on her eyes glaring at an approaching Mikato with a cruel smile on her face, she screamed at Mikato, "WHY? WHY DID YOU KILL HER?"

"Ah, good question. Perhaps you might get an answer when you meet her in hell." Mikato said as she clenched a lightning spear with her right hand formed from the electricity that was flowing through her entire body. An embodiment of an electrifying death.

"NOW DIE!" continued Mikato as she now lunged forward, pinning Saten down to the ground. Raising her right hand, she swiftly impaled the lightning spear into Saten's abdomen. Blood started to ooze out from the wound and soon, the grass around the both of them were stained bright red.

Saten tried to fight the darkness that was devouring her consciousness but it was a futile struggle and so, she decided to surrender to the darkness with a single regret of being unable to protect a dear friend.

"I'm sorry, Uiharu, I was too useless to even defend myself."

All of a sudden, the darkness vanished and she found herself in a white void.

"Could this place be what they call Heaven?" Saten thought as she took a good look around her surroundings. Nothing. All she could see was white and her body; still in her bloodied uniform but the wound from Mikato's spear had disappeared.

A man with blue cropped hair and sapphire eyes wearing Tokowade's uniform emerged from a distance . Seeing that this was the newly transferred male student, Saten quickly ran towards him.

"Why are you here? Where am I?" she asked.

"Anybody who died with regrets comes here. This white void represents their desire to restart life on a blank slate, hoping that this time, they will make the right decision. What might be your regret, Saten?" The man smiled warmly.

"I... I regret not being strong enough to protect Uiharu. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. I regretted going to Academy City. I was clearly not cut out to be an ESPer yet I insisted on going. AND NOW I CAUSED UIHARU'S DEATH, ALL BECAUSE SHE WAS WILLING TO BE MY FRIEND."

"To be or not to be, that's the question. I'm sure she would not have regretted being your friend. Life may be unfair, but it doesn't mean that you have to be at the losing end."

"What do you mean...?"

"All you wanted was to be strong enough to protect Uiharu, no? Now, I can't possibly revive Uiharu but I can offer you a deal. I'll make you strong enough, in exchange, you'll end Mikato's life with that power of yours. That's the least you can do for your friend."

"Even if Mikato is dead, it wouldn't bring Uiharu back to life. It is pointless."

"But she doesn't deserve to live. She killed your best friend. You could at least show her that the consequences of killing your friend is death. Regrets, my dear Saten. Let Mikato regret killing your friend as she pleads for you to spare her life."

Anger started to consume her as she clenched her fists tight with fury. What the man said was right, Mikato must live to regret this.

"I agree. I agree to your deal. Mikato must die."

The man stretched out a hand with his palm facing up towards Saten, "If you agree to our deal, then all you have to do is to touch the mysterious blue symbol that will soon appear on my palm."

Not a moment later, a mysterious blue symbol started to appear on his palm. It was a picture of a gentle-looking woman embraced by the soft, light breeze. Saten was hesitant but anger had clouded all sense of her logic and without further ado, she touched the symbol.

* * *

Mikato was pleased to see Saten dead. Now no one would know that she was the one who killed Uiharu.

"Level 0s like you should die anyway." She said scornfully to Saten, who was still lying there motionlessly with blood all over her.

"What did you just say?"

Mikato looked at Saten with eyes wide open with fear; she was standing upright with a demented look on her face. Blood was all over her face and uniform and her smile was eerily cheerful.

"You, yo- HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE? YOU ARE ONLY A ZERO."

"Murderers like you should just go to hell."

The skies turned darker and darker as the wind grew stronger and stronger by the minute. Mikato could tell from her crazed, blood shot eyes that this was all her doing.

Mikato said as she gathered all of the electricity flowing through her body, forming a dense electrical orb in both of her hands, "I see you've grown stronger now. But no matter what, you are still a weak little bitch."

Saten had a crooked smile in reponse to that, "Try me."

Hurling the electrical orb one by one from each hand, Mikato was certain that this was the end of her, but with a waving gesture from Saten, the orbs disintegrated into sparks of electricity.

Saten looked at Mikato with much disdain, "Is that what you've got?"

Taking a step back, her horrified gaze fell upon the demonic figure; Saten simply waved her most powerful move away, "It can't be... No way..."

"My turn."

Covering a fist with a layer of dense air, Saten burst forward and swung the fist right through Mikato's chest, ending her life instantaneously. Not satisfied with that, she ripped out Mikato's heart, causing her entire face to be drenched with blood.

Saten stood there motionlessly with blood dripping from her face. Was she right in playing judge, especially when she only saw Mikato stabbing Uiharu. What if there was more than it meets the eye. What if Mikato only stabbed Uiharu in self defense. So many what-ifs started to flood her mind.

"What have I done..." She said as she looked at Mikato's corpse lying face up on the ground. Blood was still flowing from her corpse and the area around them was painted crimson red.

"Saten, Saten, are you okay?" The voice was faint and muffled but it was undoubtedly Uiharu's voice.

Before she could even react to the voice, a strong sensation suddenly knocked her unconscious.

Not once did she realise that she was actually sleepwalking.

* * *

Underneath the warm moonlight, a young man with unusually pale skin and white moppy hair was sitting at the balcony ledge of a buliding in District 19. He could clearly see his target about 5 meters below him armed with a rifle; the 9923th clone of the strongest Electromaster, Misaka Mikoto. Rows of building were neatly lined up beside the main road, where the clone was currently at.

District 19 had became a ghost town due to a nuclear incident that supposedly happened in District 19, which ordered an immediate evacuation of the district. Accelerator knew that the nuclear incident was a complete lie so as to chase all the people away. The true meaning behind it was to conduct an underground experiment; why did it need the entire district to be completely evacuated, he had no idea. Certainly not because of his Level 6 shift experiment.

His Level 6 shift experiment requires him to kill 20,000 clones in order to achieve Level 6. He was Accelerator, the strongest ESPer in Academy City. Even though he had already killed 9922 clones, but there was something about killing those clones who could not even put up a proper fight that bothered him.

The clone looked up at the man as he sat at the balcony edge looking bored, "This is Misaka Serial Number 9923 and the experiment will begin in exactly in 6 minutes at 12:00am, says Misaka as she informs you of the time."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just shut the hell up."

"Do you wish to confirm the passcode with Misaka so as to verify that Misaka is indeed part of the experiment, questions Misaka as Misaka believes that this is a good option."

"... No. Haven't you guys learnt that after 9922 encounters with me, there is no way you will ever touch me, not to mention defeating me. Even though you people may be clones but do you really see your life as something worthless, worthless enough to throw it away just like that?"

"Misaka can be automatically produced at the press of a button as long as the proper machinery and chemicals are prepared, explains Misaka. Misaka has an artificially made body and a borrowed mind and her value is 180,000 yen with 10,076 more in reserve, says Misaka as she continues to explain."

Accelerator was annoyed at her response, "Tch, don't tell me what I already fucking know." Just then, he saw a figure approaching from a distance towards the Misaka clone. It was a young girl with long, black hair and blue eyes.

The girl stopped approaching and stood there with a blank look on her face. Despite that, tears were flowing from her cheeks.

"WHY, WHY DID YOU KILL HER?"

Accelerator cocked his head to one side, amused. Why was this strange girl suddenly spouting such nonsense. Sure, he had killed many people before but other than the Misaka clones, all of his victims were male, since they were the only foolish ones who would dare challenge him. His ability is Vector Change; the ability to manipulate the vectors of anything he touches. It was this ability that defined the real meaning behind his name, an absolute one-way road to hell.

"Misaka urges you to flee while you can as all civilians who witnessed the experiment must be disposed of, says Misaka as Misaka do not wish for any innocent lives to be lost."

"NOW DIE!" The girl now lunged forward, attempting to pin the clone down to the ground. Seeing that the girl was hostile, the clone quickly grabbed her rifle and quickly sent a bullet through her abdomen.

Using his ability, Accelerator altered the vectors under his feet to cushion his fall as he jumped down to take a closer look of the girl who was lying in a pool of blood. Somehow, he had seen this girl somewhere. He clicked his tongue in frustration as he couldn't seem to recall exactly when. For all his calculation prowess, his memory was only just as good as the average Joe.

"Fuck this. I give up. Probably some third-rate loser trying to stop the experiment I suppose."

"What did you just say?"

Accelerator looked at the girl who was now standing upright with a demented look on her face and a eerily cheerful smile. Normal people would have been frozen with fear from the demonic aura she seemed to be exuding but not Accelerator. He was the strongest ESPer for a reason.

"So you really think that you are the hero that could end this experiment?"

The girl leapt back, placing herself in a comfortable distance between Accelerator and the clone, who was standing behind him, "Murderers like you should go to hell."

The cold wind in the alley grew stronger and stronger but Accelerator was unfazed by this. Using his ability, he altered the magnitude of the vectors to turn the wind that was blowing around him and the clone into a gentle breeze.

"Aerokinesis is just pointless. A hero like you could do better." he said scornfully; this was too easy for him.

"I see you've grown stronger now. But no matter what, you are still a weak little bitch."

"HUH? What the fuck? Not only am I one of the seven Level 5's, but I'm the one who stands at the top of them all and you call me weak? Do you honestly believe that you are stronger than me? "

Accelerator was more surprised than offended. All this while, the girl had a blank look on her face, up to the point where the clone shot her and she got up with that fearsome look on her face. Instead of confronting the clone, she was confronting him. And if she really wanted to stop the experiment, why did she target the clone first? Nevertheless, if this girl had a death wish, he would be more than glad to fulfill her wish.

"Try me."

Streams of electricity started flowing from the girl's body to the both of her palms, forming a dense electrical orb in each palm and hurled them one by one towards Accelerator.

He sighed, his automatic defense shield would simply reflect the orbs back at her. True enough, before the orbs could even touch him, it was redirected back to the girl, causing her to be violently electrocuted but she seemed to be unaffected for she remained unstirred by the current that was flowing throughout her body.

Accelerator turned to face the clone, "How much time do I have left before it begins?"

"You have exactly 3 minutes and 46 seconds before Experiment #9923 begins, says Misaka as Misaka answers your question."

"I'll finish this in about a minute."

Lightly stomping on the ground, he altered the vector of his stomp, creating large fissures in the road and the windows of the nearby buildings were also shattered from the shockwaves associated with the stomp. Yet the girl remained unperturbed by this; she still had that demented look on her face.

The girl looked at Accelerator with disdain written on her face, "Is that what you've got?"

"I was so naive in believing that would scare you away, but no, you do really want to die after all."

"My turn."

The air around the girl's fist started turning denser and denser as it began to sink down onto her arm like a piece of amour clinging upon it. Bursting forward towards Accelerator, she swung the fist towards him but he only stood there bored.

"Are you even taking me seriously?"

Since his shield could reflect all vectors of any attack, her fist was forcefully swung back in the opposite direction and she fell hard onto the ground as she lost her balance. The girl tried to get up but she fell back onto the road unconscious.

"2 minutes and 32 seconds before Experiment #9923 begins, says Misaka as Misaka believes that you might be interested in the amount of time left."

Accelerator clicked his tongue, "Tch, 1 minute and 14 seconds."

"How would you dispose of this girl? Misaka asks as Misaka is concerned about this girl."

"Eh? There are so many alleyways, just pick one and dump her there."

"Will she be okay? Misaka asks as Misaka feels that this girl requires immediate attention from the paramedics."

Accelerator sighed, "I'll fucking call the paramedics once I end your miserable 180,000 yen existence."

"Understood, says Misaka as Misaka acknowleges your promise."

* * *

Hidden in the darkness of an alleyway of District 19, a mysterious figure had witnessed the scene between Accelerator and the strange girl. He noticed that the girl was capable of two abilities; control of wind and electricity. An ESPer who can control more than one ability was concluded to be a theoretical impossibility but yet this girl overcame that impossibility; a miracle he would call it.

Meanwhile, he decided to make a phone call. Before he could reach for his phone, he felt a cold, sharp blade resting on his neck. Dead from the moment when he was aware of the blade touching his neck.

"All is well within your plan, Aleister Crowley."


	3. Chapter 3: Opportunities

Chapter 3: Opportunities

運命の輪

* * *

The quadrangular room was dark and the walls were layered with several tubes and pipes. There was only one source of light from the single glass cylinder in the room which was filled with that mysterious, glowing red liquid, giving the room a tint of red.

Inside was an effeminate-looking man floating upside down in the liquid. He had white, flowing hair which made it difficult for anyone looking to determine his true gender. Outside was a tall man who had who had disheveled light blue hair wearing his blue jacket for the air inside was chilly. Equally as chilly was the slience between the both of them as the man outside continued to smile causally at the man inside, who had a serious look on his face.

After a while, the man inside decided to break the slience, "Pitting Saten Ruiko against Accelerator? What were you thinking."

"Even though we have the same hair colour, but my hair is certainly more dishevelled than cropped."

"From what I know, his sister suffered no permanent damage to her mental state while Saten Ruiko remained unconscious up till the point where she got up and faced Accelerator herself. I want an explaination, Aogami Pierce."

Aogami's eyes narrowed as he dropped his smile, "So do I, Aielster Crowley."

"Such experiments has never been of your concern, why this particular experiment, if I may ask."

"That is none of your concern. Besides, you know fully well what I'm capable. No need for explainations."

Aielster closed his eyes for a moment.

From his understanding, Aogami's ability is metaphysical teleportation; the ability to teleport into abstract places such as a dream or thoughts of people. He is also able to teleport concepts such as memories and thoughts inside to a certain extent. Arguably the most complicated ability he had ever encountered since Sogiita Gunha; equally difficult to comprehend.

Just like any teleporter, he must also calucate the spacial coordinates of jumping between dimensional spaces. However, in the metaphysical plane, it must be defined by him before he could start his calucations.

Moreover, to even exist in the metaphysical plane, he must first construct a metaphysical body composed entirely out of his AIM field and all of the processing power in his brain in the physical body is required to control it. Thus, if you see him asleep, its either that he's really asleep or currently in process of using his ability.

"Teleporting concepts into her subconscious that would force her to sleepwalk and fight Accelerator, is that so?"

Aogami gave a light chuckle as his smile returned once more, "If it was that easy, I'd be even stronger than that albino. No, I can teleport concepts into her subconscious but it'll be erased it's not congruent enough."

Seeing Aielster's rare flash of annoyance as he was unable to figure out the true reason behind Saten's fight with Accelerator, Aogami smirked. While Aleister may have set up a huge surveillance network in Academy City, but it is impossible to set up one in a metaphysical plane.

Aogami continued, "Saten Ruiko had a dream caused by an error in upgrading of her AIM field, but she was far too powerless in her dream to fight the killer that was after her, thus I teleported a concept into the subconscious of her dream self, which resolved the error."

"Teleportation into the subconscious of her subconscious. The metaphysical plane of existence never fails to be fascinating."

Aogami grinned, "Ah, I don't know if I should be asking you this, but do you happen to have watched Magical Powered Kanamin?"

Aielster rolled his eyes and sighed," Magicians aren't supposed to be that cute. It's a horrible show in my opinion."

"A scheming mastermind like you would never appreciate the beauty behind this show." Aogami said as he protested in a comical way.

"That's not the point."

If Aleister could use his hands, he would have put a palm right at his face in embarrassment.

"Ah, no point trying to convince you of the beauty and wonders of Magical Powered Kanamin."

With that, Aogami turned his back and after raising a hand to wave goodbye, he vanished into thin air. He was running out of AIM dispersions that would maintain his metaphysical body to be visible to Aleister in the room anyway.

* * *

Running haphazardly through the people who were walking about the corridors of the hospital, Uiharu was rushing to see Saten, who had just awoken from her coma after a few days.

Apparently, Anti-Skill was informed of a girl found unconscious in an alleyway of District 19 by a mysterious person and she was promptly sent to a hospital in District 7 as there were no hospitals nearby. Uiharu was soon informed about this when the girl was confirmed to be Saten Ruiko. However, she was in a coma at the time. This morning, the hospital had called to inform that she had already awaken from her coma.

Upon reaching Ward 1062; Saten's ward, Uiharu quickly pushed the door open to see Saten calmly sitting at her hospital bed, basking in the sunlight from the large, transparent window to her left. There was a small cabinet beside the bed with a glass of water placed on top of a letter.

She quickly rushed to her bedside, "SATEN! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Saten turned to face Uiharu with a confused look on her face, "Who... are you?"

"Eh?"

"Really, who are you?"

Tears started to well up in Uiharu's eyes, "Sa-Saten... You really don't remember me? I'm Uiharu! Th-The girl who you just love to flip her skirt up, don't you remember?"

Still confused, she shot her an inexplicable look, "No..." but soon broke into a smile and burst into laughter, "Of course I do! I wonder what colour are you wearing today though..." said Saten as she eyed Uiharu lecherously in a comical way.

"That is not funny!" Uiharu said as her face blushed red with anger. Upset at her friend playing such a stupid joke at her, but yet glad at the same time that this was all just a joke.

Saten cracked a wide smile at Uiharu, "Life is no fun if you take things so seriously."

"But you made me so worried for nothing!"

"No worries, I'm all good isn't it so?"

Turning to the cabinet beside her, Saten reached for the letter and passed it to Uiharu enthusiastically with both hands outstretched and a smile.

"Uiharu! Read this."

Hesitantly, she started to read what was on the letter.

_Tired of being deemed as weaker than others just because of the SYSTEM's ranking? _

_Wait no more, for this competition will prove who's truly strongest._

_Not by ability nor level, but by pure wits and a little strength._

_This is Fort Royale, proudly brought to you by PLUS Inc. _

_By virtue of luck, you have been granted direct qualification for Round 1._

_1st Prize: 1,000,000 yen_

_2nd Prize: 500,000 yen_

_3rd Prize: 200,000 yen_

_Bonus Prize: One Loving-U's one-of-a-kind entire collection._

_Kindly refer to Page 2 for details about this competition._

Uiharu exclaimed as she looked at Saten who was grinning at her now, "You're so lucky! This is the biggest event since Daihasei Festival in Academy City. Too bad there were limited slots and registration closed early, or else I would have participated too."

"Hehe. A gift from Komoe-sensei. She said it would be a good experience for me."

"Komoe-sensei...? I don't remember such a teacher in our school."

Saten pouted; how could Uiharu forget so quickly, "She was the teacher for a supplementary lesson after that Level Upper incident."

"Oh, that really short girl with pink hair... no, woman."

Flipping to the back of the letter, Uiharu read the 2nd page of the letter.

_There will be 4 rounds in total, 1 qualifying round and 3 official rounds._

_Participants will be grouped in teams of 3 with their total levels not exceeding 4, except in the qualifying round, where it is individual play.  
_

_However, there will be a hidden Level 5 inside. Fret not, for it is wits that determine the winner, not sheer power. Whichever team manages to eliminate the Level 5 will receive the bonus prize and an additional 2,000,000 yen._

_The qualifying round will start on 26th January and Round 1 will begin at 2nd Feburary. _

_Venue will be at PLUS Inc. HQ in District 15._

___Please remember to produce this letter for verification._

_Good luck!_

Just then, Uiharu felt a vibration in her pocket and realised that it was her phone. It was Kuroko informing her that a Judgement meeting is starting in 3 minutes.

"You should seriously get a watch." said a girl with auburn hair tied into two curly pigtails who appeared out of nowhere right beside Uiharu. She was Shirai Kuroko, a Level 4 Teleporter and a member of the 177th branch of Judgement together with her.

"Are you okay?" Kuroko asked when she noticed that Saten seemed afraid of her presence; as if a demon unleashed from hell was trying to kill her.

With a reassuring smile, she said, "Yeah... I'm fine." but it was not enough to conceal the fear in her voice.

Kuroko sighed, probably some after-effects from being a coma. After Uiharu gave the letter back to Saten, she teleported both herself and Uiharu away.

"So you don't really remember anything after all, do you?" Aogami said.

Just like Kuroko, he had also appeared out of nowhere right beside Saten.

"My dream is now a reality while my reality is now a dream."

"While I'm the transfer student in Tokowade Middle School that you knew, but your days in Tokowade were simply just a dream."

Saten stretched her left hand out in front of her and looked at it with melancholy in her eyes.

"This very hand was the hand that killed Mikato. Even when she wanted me dead, even if Uiharu was killed by her. I regretted killing her because she deserved a second chance."

Aogami took the empty glass of water from the cabinet beside him, "Lay the palm of your left hand up."

After she did that, he placed it on her palm, much to her confusion.

"Why...?"

"Think of that gentle woman you've touched on my palm, it's Sanae from Touhou so don't say you forgot how she looked like."

Although Saten had never watched Touhou before; not to mention knowing who is Sanae, but she couldn't forget the scene where he offered her powers like no other just by touching the woman. After visualising the woman in her mind, a small wind orb with a light green hue started forming, slowly pushing the glass to the top of the orb. Instead of falling off, it remained balanced as it rested at the top sideways.

"No way..."

"Level 0, Aero Hand."

Saten stared at Aogami with amazement, "How can this be? Only a machine can detect AIM fields! Not to mention determining abilities is something done only on SYSTEM scans."

And then it dawned upon her; he was the person who gave her that ability, how could he not know.

Aogami smiled in response, "Only this ability wasn't a dream. The rest is really just a dream."

"Since the memories I have now are merely just a dream, then my true memories can be considered lost. Even if that is the case, the memories of those who are dearest to me still resides in my heart."

He chuckled, "I know of a guy who said something similar too."

"Oh yes, in exchange for Komoe-sensei's kindness and my persuasion..." Aogami continued as he knelt down to the ground, clasping both of hands in a prayer, "PLEASE WIN THE BONUS PRIZE! IT'S A ONE-OF-A-KIND COLLECTION!"

Embarrassed at Aogami's sudden outburst, Saten had no choice but to agree. Still, she wasn't confident of eliminating a Level 5. After all, even if it's pure wits, being a Level 5 still has its advantages.

"I'll be counting on you then!" He winked at her before disappearing into thin air again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kamijou Touma was currently in the streets of District 15, making his way to PLUS Inc. HQ, the venue for Fort Royale. Today is the 26th January and the qualifying round will start at 2pm which was an hour away from now.

A few days ago, his teacher, Tsukuyomi Komoe had supposedly given him a letter that would grant him a direct qualification to Round 1, until Aogami came into the picture. Apperently, a girl named Saten Ruiko from Sakugawa Middle School had a relative who was dying of cancer and desperately needed money. Coincidentally, that girl was also once a student of Komoe. Hence, Saten Ruiko got that letter while he got another letter that would allow him to enter the qualifying round.

Given his misfortune, he had already calculated the possible scenarios that would guarantee the worst day for him today. All of them were deadly accurate.

For this competition, he decided to wear his best clothing; a white piece of T-shirt given by Aogami with a striking picture of a girl from the latest anime; K-ON's Akiyama Mio on the front. Some time ago, Aogami won the T-shirt in a lucky draw at an anime convention, but since he preferred K-ON's Yui Hirasawa more, hence he decided to give it him instead.

However, the Imagine Breaker that he possesses on his right hand, had negated his own luck. In exchange, he is able to negate all supernatural powers, such as magic, ESPer's ability, and even divine powers. Thus, even a gift from a friend could somehow lead to an unlucky incident.

This morning, after washing the T-shirt, he had left it outside the balcony to dry. However, Index spotted the T-shirt that was hanging on the balcony while sipping on a cup of grape juice. Jealous of the girl on the T-shirt, she splashed the juice right at it. When confronted by Touma, she merely claimed that it was an accident that the juice went on the shirt.

Fortunately, while he may have been blessed by misfortune, but it doesn't mean that it is unpredictable. Taking out his red shirt from his drawer that he had prepared as a backup, he quickly did a quick ironing of the shirt before heading out 3 hours earlier.

As predicted, all of the bus heading to District 15 had broken down. Relying on directions from passer-bys and after shaking off a few gangs who were picking a fight with him, he had made it to District 15. However, the biggest obstacle he had to face was right in front of him now.

It was a girl with short brown hair and that distinctive light brown vest with a school emblem on the left side wore under a short-sleeved white dress shirt; there was no mistaking that this was Tokiwadai Middle School's uniform.

She was Misaka Mikoto, the strongest Electromaster and the 3rd ranked Level 5. Ever since that incident at the bridge that caused a city-wide blackout, she had an obsession of challenging him to fights whenever they cross paths.

"Stop right there! Today is the day that I finally beat you!" Misaka said.

Touma sighed, of all days, today. Besides, he was rushing to the competition that is starting in about an hour time. Given his misfortune, it might just start in 5 minutes due to some unforeseen circumstances.

"Biri-biri. How about another day? I'm rushing to a competition right now."

"Fort Royale? If it wasn't for the fact that Level 5s are obviously banned, I would have joined too."

Touma sighed once again, "So you aren't that hidden Level 5 eh..."

Mikoto's face flushed red with embarrassment as she tries to explain, "Well, it-its not like I didn't want to be that hidden Level 5, bu-but I was busy with extra classes, that's why."

"Oh? Then do you happen to know who might be that hidden Level 5?"

"Just keep a lookout for any person who has blonde hair."

Before Touma could say anything, Mikoto turned to her right and walked away. He could now see that PLUS Inc. HQ was right ahead.

* * *

After failing the verification 10 times, Kamijou Touma was finally verified after an administrator fixed an error in the system, much to his relief. Walking down the corridors of PLUS Inc's stimulation studios with a guide, he could see that there was a significant crowd in each studio.

"Room 190, this is it." The guide said before leading Touma inside.

It was a large, white room with grey tiles on the ground. But it was just an empty space with a crowd of 50 people inside. Touma observed that most of them were students judging from their appearances, however, there was a girl with blonde hair that stood out among the crowd. Could this be the hidden Level 5 that Mikoto mentioned?

"Such misfortune." He muttered under his breath. Perhaps that 1 million yen was not meant to be.

A woman dressed in a black business suit stepped into the room with a remote control. With a press of a button, the room was instantly transformed into an interior of a building layered with various art pieces. There was a black, futuristic-looking box placed at a wooden stage located in front of the crowd. However, it still seemed like an empty space without the furnitures and windows in place. A door was located behind though.

She also gave everyone a pamphlet and 10 pieces of numbered paper with 'Yes' written on 5 pieces and 'No' written on the other 5.

Kamijou Touma was numbered No.36.

A person who wore a mask of K-ON's Azusa Nakano appeared on a screen that suddenly appeared right at the stage. PLUS Inc. was a sponsor of the latest animation called K-ON and the mask was part of their advertising campaign.

The woman walked out of the room through the door, leaving the person on the screen to explain the rules.

"Everyone, please take a look at your pamphlet to understand what this qualifying round is all about. You have exactly 5 minutes." The person on the screen spoke and he activated a timer that was ticking down from 5 minutes.

Stuffing the 10 pieces of paper into the pockets of his jeans, Touma started reading the pamphlet.

_Firstly, congratulations on making it to the competition. For the qualifying round, the game you will be playing is called Minority Rule. _

_How do you play this game? _

_A random player is chosen to ask any question as long is the answer is either "yes" or "no."_

_Using the pieces of paper given, players then vote for either "yes" or "no."_

_To vote, a player will place either a small sheet saying "yes" or "no" into a box. The paper is numbered to identify who voted for which answer._

_Players do not need to vote honestly._

_The answer with the most votes is declared the majority and anyone who voted for that answer is eliminated._

_The game is over when there is only 2 people left._

_Violence is forbidden and any player who fails to abide to this will be disqualified._

_That is all._

An alarm sounded, signalling the end of 5 minutes.

"No. 27. Kindly step up to the stage to ask a question."

A petite sized girl with dark brown hair stepped up to the stage and asked a question. Touma noticed that there was a star shaped design on her eyes. In fact, everyone in the crowd including the blond haired girl seemed to have similar eyes as hers. He sensed that something was wrong but he brushed that feeling off. Perhaps they were cosplaying as Kaho, a starry eyed character from yet another popular anime in Academy City, Dan Dan Hoshii. If it wasn't for his otaku friend, Aogami Pierce, he probably would not have known the names of some of the most popular animes trending right now except Magical Powered Kanamin, which that freeloader of a nun Index always watches everyday.

The question was, "Are you a girl?"

Resigning his fate to misfortune, he simply grabbed a random piece of paper from his pocket and stuffed it into the box. Soon, everyone had already finished voting. The box that contained everyone's votes started to flash bright green as it calculated the amount of votes inside.

After a while, the box stopped flashing and the person on the screen spoke once again before fading away to reveal the results on the screen.

"The results are as follows."

And from the screen, Kamijou Touma saw the results.

_Players who voted for 'Yes': 48_

_Players who voted for 'No': 2_

_No.36 and No.5, __congratulations on making it into Round 1._

"It can't be... I made it?"

That blonde haired girl was surprised to see another person who made it together with her. Taking out a remote control from her purse, she pointed it towards the blue, spiky haired boy who was apparently that No.36 from reading the mind of a girl who noted that he was No.36.

To her surprise, the boy remained unaffected by the remote control. The blonde haired girl who was Shokuhou Misaki; the hidden Level 5 with the ability to manipulate human minds now realised that perhaps winning the competition wouldn't be that easy after all.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, K-ON is a real anime that actually exists unlike Dan Dan Hoshii, which is just something I made up on the fly. And no, PLUS Inc. is not a sponsor of K-ON. Just wanted to clarify this in case of any misunderstanding.

Sadly, Touhou is not considered as an anime even though there are some doujinshi's anime which are pretty nice. Go watch them!

Lastly, do leave a review if you have any comments :D


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